In March, however, Attorney General Jeff Sessions suddenly and inexplicably stepped into this seemingly settled matter, using a rarely utilized power to assign a similar petition for asylum, known as the Matter of A-B–, to himself for reconsideration.

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken personal charge of a case that could mean the end of asylum status for domestic violence victims.CreditMike Blake/Reuters

The facts in the Matter of A-B- are similar to those in the 2014 case. Ms. A-B-, a Salvadoran woman, was brutalized by her husband for 15 years. He beat and kicked her, including while she was pregnant; bashed her head against the wall; threatened her with death while holding a knife to her throat or brandishing a gun; and threatened to hang her. Ms. A-B- attempted to secure state protection to no avail. On the two occasions she managed to obtain restraining orders, the police did nothing to enforce them. When she went to the police after her husband attacked her with a knife, their response was that if she had any “dignity,” she would leave him. When Ms. A-B- did attempt to leave her husband, he tracked her down, raped her and threatened to kill her. When she finally secured a divorce, her ex-husband told her that if she thought the divorce freed her from him, she was “wrong.” She finally decided to flee the country after he told her that he and his friends were going to kill her, put her in a body bag and dump her in the river.

When Ms. A-B- came to the United States seeking asylum, her case was heard by an immigration judge in Charlotte, N.C., named V. Stuart Couch, who is notorious for his high denial rate. Mr. Couch denied her asylum; Ms. A-B- appealed, and the decision was overruled by the Board of Immigration Appeals, the same board that had ruled favorably in the 2014 case. The board sent the case back to Mr. Couch for security checks to be completed and asylum to be granted. Without any explanation, Mr. Couch held on to the case and refused to grant asylum as directed. And then, deviating from normal procedures, Mr. Sessions took jurisdiction.

The attorney general does have the power to reconsider any decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals. However, the procedural irregularities, paired with the possibility that Mr. Sessions may be using his authority to upend the precedent set in the Matter of A-R-C-G-, are troubling. Mr. Sessions has given himself the power not only to decide Ms. A-B-’s fate but also ultimately to try to rule on how our country handles claims for all survivors of domestic violence looking for asylum.

To be clear, we do not yet know what Mr. Sessions will decide. But in the context of the Trump administration’s antipathy toward asylum seekers, and Mr. Sessions’s statements and actions with regard to immigrant women, his decision to assign himself jurisdiction does not bode well. Asylum seekers who have arrived at the American border seeking protection have been vilified by this administration. Our government has targeted women in ways that would have been unthinkable under prior administrations, including the recent decisions to separate mothers who arrive at the border from their children and to detain pregnant women. Mr. Sessions himself has expressed his deep skepticism for asylum claims based on gender-related persecution.

At a time when violence against women and girls is a global crisis, a decision denying protection to women who flee gender violence, including domestic violence, would be a grave mistake. This is a moment of truth of our country. Will we remain a beacon of hope for women worldwide whose lives are on the line because of domestic violence, and whose governments cannot or will not protect them? The answer, it seems, is in the attorney general’s hands.